Developing…HuffPo CEO is Spotify’s Former Head of Corporate Development and General Counsel

ARW readers will know that my friend Blake Morgan had his Huffington Post contributor account deleted after he posted a whistleblower piece critical of Spotify’s licensing and artist relations practices. Producer Michael Beinhorn (call sign “Eagle Eye”) has posted that Huffington Post’s CEO Jared Grusd “is the former General Counsel and Global Head of Corporate Development at Spotify.”

If true (and I assume it is true), this raises all kinds of questions of conflict of interest but would go a long way to explaining the speed with which Blake’s post was taken down and his account deleted. Why would Spotify’s comms man (aka the old triangulator) make that call? As Voltaire might say of Admiral Byng, “pour encourager les autres.”

We will continue to drill down on this, but thanks to Professor Beinhorn for the tip.